‘I left X Factor to find my real place in the world’

A head teacher in a South London comprehensive school gave a speech this summer to mark his retirement. Tony Perry told the story of a pupil who had been hauled in front of him eight years earlier and who was in trouble again after six suspensions. “I had his future in my hands,” he said. Should he exclude the boy permanently or give him one final chance?

It was because the boy fell to his knees in tears that he chose the latter. Mr Perry said that it was “one of the best decisions” he had made.

The boy was called Ashley John-Baptiste and he went on to confound all expectations. From a rebellious childhood in care, moving between foster families and a children’s home,…